Attracting Real Opportunities (1)

My Mentor once said…

I am worried about a trend in Nigeria. There is so much emphasis on money at the expense of ideas. So much emphasis on faith at the expense of hard work. And so much emphasis on hope at the expense of concerted action. Realistically, those who are successful have learned to balance ideas and money, faith and hard work, hope and action.
Personally, I will also say that… I am worried about a trend in my generation. There is so much pursuit of “Grab Opportunities” that we leave our abilities and bury our affinities all in the claim that they can’t thrive in the land where all we think about is survival.
Truthfully, Nigeria is a country full of opportunities, but full of a chase for “grabbed opportunities” and this overtime amounts to massive frustration because only a few rightly placed ones hit them. Those who chase and hit “earned opportunities” are those who make their pursuit an overlapping subset of their abilities, their affinities and then opportunity comes rolling to make it a complete tricycle, meaning opportunity comes chasing.
This reminds me of the story of a regional manager in a major bank in this country, whose comfort in her “grabbed opportunity” was evident and one day he eventually got laid off after a major restructuring during the economic recession. The real problem now was that he didn’t know what to do even with a whopping N12 million at hand, so like every other typical Nigerian, He chased after the trending business the environment was investing in. In 10 months, the business was about folding up all because the world had moved on to the next so called opportunity.
The question for you today is…
What do you chase after, grabbed or earned opportunity? When you earn an opportunity, it sticks and even proffers better ones ahead, but when it is grabbed, it finds every way possible to leave.
Be Smart! Think about this…
Thanks for reading through.
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I am Steven Haastrup – The Executive Director of StartUp Nigeria, a StartUp Management Consultant, a Public Speaker and Writer

He tweets @StevenHaastrup